every car that I have owned/driven (from POS to luxury cars) has had the wipers freeze up on me when they are not use including today with my KK. If you want the problem fixed, buy winter blades.

As I mentioned above, it never happened once with my KJ Liberty, and I used nothing but spider blades on there. My tacoma has a similar design to the WK2 and it has had its blades freeze up a bit - even with beam-type blades - but nothing like this. The blades aren't the problem; the design is. The way the blades are tucked down behind the hood with no heating element means that cold air will swirl over the blades, freezing them. It doesn't matter what type of wiper arm is on there - the rubber blade, itself, is what froze.

The defroster won't thaw out the wiper blades super structure. Maybe the heat from a poorly sealed hood. That said a squirt or three from the washers and that may help. The real answer is a quality winter blade. The beam blades are really a 3+ season blade. No blade is a four season blade. Try being a hood ornament for 6 months and tell us how that works.

In addition to the issue with the remote start not defrosting this windshield, this morning I was "pleasantly" surprised to find myself suddenly driving with zero visibility when I tried to wash the salt from my windshield. I had to pull off the road - unable to see where I was going - to bang off my wipers.

I pre-heated the car for 10 minutes using remote start, but still had to clear the 1/2 inch of snow from the windshield before driving (because the remote start doesn't take care of the windshield). I banged all the snow & ice off the windshield wipers and turned them on & off to make sure they were wiping well. They were, so I pulled out and started heading to work. I kept the HVAC set to blow on the windsheild, with the temp set to "Hi" and the blower speed set to four bars. Note this - it was blasting the windshield pretty good with the maximum temperature setting.

After about 10 minutes at about 40 mph on a two-lane, it was time to wash the salt of the windshield. The sprayers covered the glass with juice and the wipers wiped, only they didn't remove anything! The wiper blades were frozen solid. I couldn't believe it. I had to pull over, unable to see where I was going, so that I could get out and bang the wiper blades.

It turns out that the wiper blades sit a few inches below the windsheild and do not benefit at all from the defroster. They are left in the cold, literally, and as such they freeze up when you're driving in these kinds of conditions. As a result, when you do need them, they do nothing.

I have a strong hunch that Chrysler engineers & marketing folks read this forum. I hope they do. If you're listening - this is going to get somebody killed. My guess is the wipers were tucked down low behind the trailing edge of the hood to help reduce drag and improve fuel economy. Well, fat lot of good fuel economy does when you can't see where you're going and you run head-on into a Brinks truck.

Can you elaborate on the spare tire clunk resolution (I remember your post about it, but never saw a follow-up with the solution)?

I've never seen a group of people before who complain about the most littlest things. Its bloody winter you guys? What do you seriously expect??? Buy winter blades if you are in a cold climate. It's as simple as that. I live in Canada, and I switch from a summer blade to a winter blade every year.

Stop whining, my god...The WK2 forum is starting to look like 4 year old kids.

I don't ever recall having a vehicle that had a defroster that could clear snow and ice from windshield and wipers. At least not in PA, upstate NY, New England, and CO. Is this really the objective?

If the rig has been outside for any time in snow and cold, the only real solution is first physically clearing the windshield and wipers of snow and ice, and then heating the windshield interior. We also either flip the wipers up off the glass, or lay down a cover if the vehicles are going to stay outside in the winter.

I don't ever recall having a vehicle that had a defroster that could clear snow and ice from windshield and wipers. At least not in PA, upstate NY, New England, and CO. Is this really the objective?

If the rig has been outside for any time in snow and cold, the only real solution is first physically clearing the windshield and wipers of snow and ice, and then heating the windshield interior. We also either flip the wipers up off the glass, or lay down a cover if the vehicles are going to stay outside in the winter.

Where did I say it didn't clear snow and ice from the wipers? Where did I say that was what I was expecting it to do? I said that I manually cleared the snow & ice from the car. I removed it all. Immediately after doing so, I checked the wipers' functionality and they worked fine. Then after 10 minutes of driving the rubber blade, itself, had frozen up. Read that again - the rubber blade, itself. Not the metal arm. Not snow or ice covering the wipers. The rubber blade, itself, had frozen. Let me say it again - the rubber blade, itself, had frozen up after I had removed all of the snow and ice manually. One more time - the rubber blade, itself, had frozen when there was no snow or ice on the car to begin with. You getting it? The rubber blade, itself, is what froze.

Now, this is the third new car I've purchased in the past five years and it's the first where this happens. I had an '06 KJ liberty and the blades did not freeze because they rested on a portion of the windshield that received heat from the defroster. In the WK2, the blades rest where they receive no heat and as such are subject to freezing up as a result of the tiny bit of road spray that hits the car when you're driving. It's not enough to warrant running the wipers because it immediately sublimates from the heated windshield. But it does not sublimate or evaporate from where the wipers sit, because that area is not heated. After 10 minutes when the road salt has built up and you need to run the washers, you find that the rubber blades, themselves, have frozen, are not pliable, and cannot clear the washer fluid from the windshield.